


trouble don't rhyme

by mosaicos



Category: Free!
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-06
Updated: 2015-03-06
Packaged: 2018-03-16 13:50:03
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,464
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3490676
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mosaicos/pseuds/mosaicos
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Certain people had the bad habit of opening up the doors to their gardens on that odd-week between winter and spring, when the air was still chilly enough to merit the use of warm sweaters and coats but it being sunny enough most of the time to brave the outside with just a light jacket.</p><p>He was amongst those with a bad habit.</p>
            </blockquote>





	trouble don't rhyme

Haru sneezed.

Certain people had the bad habit of opening up the doors to their gardens on that odd-week between winter and spring, when the air was still chilly enough to merit the use of warm sweaters and coats but it being sunny enough most of the time to brave the outside with just a light jacket.

He was amongst those with a bad habit. —it would certainly explain the signs of an imminent cold, though he’ll be too stubborn to admit to any flaws in wanting to air out his house. He liked the fresh air and he enjoyed even more being able to eat his warm breakfast with a chill around him, as it “augmented” the taste of whatever it was (mackerel) that he was consuming. 

To be completely honest, having stray cats walk up into his porch and home was perhaps another reason he enjoyed leaving the doors to his backyard open. 

It would happen quickly; one minute he would be waiting for the rice cooker to ping while sitting in front of the TV, cold air playing against his back, and the second he left to put the mackerel down on a hot grill, he would return to a number of cats already waiting for him where he had just been sitting, seeking a warm spot. 

“Haru! I’m coming in!” 

And that would be Makoto, letting himself in through the front door he always left open. 

Standing up, he lets the cats meow and purr and stretch on the floor, dragging his feet as he walked back out into the hallway to greet his neighbour, a question on his lips, but one which he—just like most times—doesn’t voice out. 

Greetings come awkward to him, so instead he offers something he’s more practiced in saying. “Makoto.”

“Good morning! Ah, you’ve already started preparing something? I brought some meat buns from the kiosk... “ as he spoke, Makoto helped himself to the kitchen and put down plastic bags, retrieving the items inside to put onto the counter. Haru noted that it was mostly cat food. Where was _his_ fresh rationing of mackerel? Surely Makoto had to go past the fishmonger on his way here from the store.

Haru huffs.

“We can have them too.” 

Makoto brightened at that. And then, as usual, his attention turned to the cats invading Haru’s living room. “—Haru, you’re going to catch a cold if you keep leaving the doors open like this!” 

Now shedding winter coat and scarf, setting it aside in the living room, Makoto heads over to one of the cats and sits on his haunches, immediately greeting the sleepy felines with scratches and nose-boops. Haru followed, wordlessly, used to Makoto’s chastising on this matter and knowing that by now Makoto doesn’t _really_ mind that he does leave the doors open.

Soon enough he joins his childhood friend on properly greeting the cats into his home. 

“Ahh… Hello, Captain. Is it me or are you getting bigger?”

Alright, so maybe he isn’t _too_ upset at Makoto for not bringing him fresh mackerel, especially when he starts calling the cats a number of silly names. Haru never remembers them specifically, and he wonders if Makoto’s just going with it, though something tells him that he knows them by memory. 

“She’s definitely getting bigger. Are you feeding her too much mackerel, Haru?” 

Makoto turns to face him—and Haru scowls a fragment of an expression. “You just put down ten cans of gold-star cat food on the counter.” _I’m not the one making the cats fat._ And Makoto does relent, looking sheepishly to the side, before folding the sleeves of his dark blue sweater up to his elbows and picking up the cat receiving the morning greetings.

“...well… at least she’s still cute…”

The trepidation from his words come in an attempt to placate Haru’s accusation. And it does work. Haru relents and sits down, legs crossed, and fluffs up the patch of white fur on the cat’s tummy. 

“Her fur coat is getting nicer because of all the food you bring.”

“Ah! It is, isn't it? The food is supposed to help with providing all the nutrients and vitamins cats need on a daily basis! —oh…!”

The last exclamation, a quiet whisper, makes Haru turn his attention from a black kitten gnawing at his socks to Makoto. Blue eyes take on an extra shine, widening suddenly, for the cat in Makoto’s arms looks _ridiculous_ and incredibly _cute_ with her tongue sticking out, eyes blown wide as she looks about without seeming to realise her tongue-situation.

He’s immediately patting down Makoto’s coat on the side to find his green phone and take a number of pictures. They have probably seen this cat and a few others doing the exact same thing over and over again but they never tire of it. It’s a quiet fascination with their silly actions, and unfortunately they’re both in too deep.

Despite how different they are based on their personalities, something both Haru and Makoto can go back to and revert to wide-eyed children filled with wonder is when it comes down to cats. Haru doesn’t voice how much affection he holds for the critters as much as Makoto does—what with picking them up and cuddling with them—but he’s definitely got a soft spot for them.

“—hold her up, like that.”

“She’s so—ah, she’s going to jump off—”

“Keep her still!”

“Haru, wait!” 

“Don’t let her command your movements, Makoto.”

“Ha-Haru! It hurts—!”

“What the hell are you guys doing?”

***

Rin was making his way inside Haru’s home. He called out a greeting, as he usually does, but received no response, neither from Haru nor from Makoto. It left him feeling a little miffed at the lack of welcome, but he immediately suspected what was going on, if the smell of mackerel and the cold in the house was anything to go by.

It’s not the first time he’s walked in on Haru and Makoto in a rather incriminatory thread of conversation, holding on to cats and trying to make them pose to take pictures or videos of them. 

Truth be told, Rin loved cats as much as his two friends, but it was always a little strange that the two were so taken by cats, to the point where it was one of the very few things that would make them act like children—rolling about to get cats to play with them, lying down on their front and putting cat treats onto each others’ backs in hopes of getting a cat to lie down there (it has worked 5% of the time, to his reckoning), trying to get them used to wearing collars with bells, or tying ribbons on their tails. 

It did, however, force a smile on his face when he would be shown the videos they made before he got to Haru’s place. He loved hearing both Haru and Makoto’s stifled laugh whenever a cat did something silly. 

At the end of the day, Rin would always end up with a cat on his lap as he ate a granola bar, while watching TV. “I’m a hot spot,” was his usual comment, grinning up at Haru and Makoto, wiggling his eyebrows to try and drive a point home of his cleverly used play-on-words; it would only irritate Haru and it made Makoto giggle to himself before sitting beside Rin and leaning close, head on the redhead’s shoulder, to pet the near-sleeping cat.

Haru would always return with Makoto’s phone to try and sneak a couple of pictures.

***

Haru was holding Makoto’s phone and trying to sneak a couple of pictures of the events unfolding before him.

Makoto was sitting beside Rin, their legs hanging out over the porch, and Rin had a very possessive hand behind Makoto’s neck, keeping him close. They were kissing, puffs of warm air whenever they pulled away briefly; Makoto’s cheeks were, as usual, flushed, and he kept opening his eyes out of how flustered he felt, whereas Rin led the kiss with little to no hesitation in his actions, though his face was redder than his partner’s.

It’s only when Makoto puts his hand atop Rin’s, threading their fingers together, that they pull away from kissing entirely, breathing hard through their noses. Makoto laughs lightly as Rin scowls, red eyes darting immediately to glare at Haru. 

He’s effectively distracted by Makoto peppering his face with kisses—a gesture Haru manages to (also effectively) capture on camera.

***

“Ah, Haru, wait!”

“Stop moving, you’re making this difficult.”

 _Cat videos_ , Rin thinks, rolling his eyes, focused on washing the dishes they had used for lunch because Haru had cooked, and it made sense for him to clean up.

“Ha-Haru—!” the high-pitched whine, as Rin mouths the exact same dialogue; it’s always a similar string of bantering between the two, especially when it came to this kind of hobby the two shared regarding the recording of the cats’ cute factors. 

“You’re making it worse!”

Hands dried on the kitchen towel, Rin makes his way back towards the living room to suggest to the other two that they go for a jog. They have spent too much time indoors and he was already feeling stifled. Perhaps they could even go to the pool and buy takeout for dinner on their way back.

Upon walking back on the two, he stops dead in his tracks, however. 

Mouth drops open, jaw slack, eyes wide.

“ _What the hell are you guys doing!?_ ”

Makoto is bleeding, Haru on his lap, looking like a child caught trying to hide a broken vase behind the couch. There’s strings of blood going down Makoto’s chin, some splatter of it on his sleeve, and some on Haru’s lips. At least Makoto doesn’t look so much traumatised as he does surprised.

“Holy _shit_ , that’s kinky as hell, Haru.”

And just like before (yet unlike before), blue eyes dart to glare right at Rin.

“It was an accident.”

“You were kissing him and _made him bleed_!”

Makoto whines, unsure of his situation, not realising just how much he really is bleeding. 

“I wanted to try biti—”

“Stop.”

“—ng him. He likes it when you bite him.”

 _Ugh_ , Haru was incredibly embarrassing! Rin’s face flares and his shoulders stiffen as he crosses the threshold with big steps and tries to separate the two, to at least clean Makoto up.

“It’s a technique…”

“Makoto, _seriously_!”

There’s a whine, and Rin takes Makoto with him to the bathroom to clean him up and examine the damage. Haru follows, mostly because he’s ashamed he hurt Makoto, and because he wants to kiss him better.

***

The tub is really too small for three.

Haru, annoyed, sinks further down against Makoto’s chest until half his face is covered, nose underwater, and blank eyes visible. He blows some bubbles to bring to the attention of Makoto that he really is annoyed at this turn of events. 

Makoto, for his part, laughs nervously and pats Haru’s head, ruffling his hair gently like he would with one of the cats. 

“No you _don’t_.”

Rin is sitting facing them, on the other end of the tub, and pushes Haru up and out of the water, nearly making him knock his head into Makoto’s chin had the brunet not had the insight to move his head to the side. One hurt lip was enough damage for one day.

It’s a tight fit, it really is, but with practice they have managed. Makoto gets to sit at one end because of his size, and that usually leaves Rin and Haru fighting for the other end of the tub. Today, Rin won the right to it, and Haru, miffed, as usual with losing, decided he would sit against Makoto’s chest rather than against Rin’s—just to _spite_ him. 

He digs the balls of his feet painfully onto Rin’s sides, just because, and at the redhead’s wince simply says:

“It’s a small tub.”

Flatly.

“You have to admit it’s warm and nice, though!” Makoto tries to salvage the situation, arms winding around Haru’s waist as he sits up and leans forward. Haru lets his friend’s weight nearly tip him forward into the water. His front bangs barely touch the surface, and he’s fascinated by the ripple effect. 

“We’re not staying here until it gets cold, though,” Rin’s voice echoes in the small, tiled bathroom. “You guys do want me to help you with studying for Math, right?” 

...knowing Rin’s intentions, they probably wouldn’t do much studying, though. Whenever Rin and Makoto got together and started flirting with each other, any studying went down the drain from there on out. Haru was just a happy participant being dragged by his two friends.

Makoto kisses his cheek and sits back, letting Haru pulls himself up again. There’s a small smile on his face, and when he raises himself he’s met with—

Ah. 

Rin kisses him sweetly, with more care than one would expect. The effort must be uncomfortable for Rin, all things considered, so Haru decides to be nice _this once_. He pushes Rin back, disturbs the water, and sits on the redhead’s lap to return the favour. 

They fight and argue so much, but in the end it doesn’t mean they hate each other. Quite on the contrary, actually…

“—shit, what the ‘ell, ‘aru!”

An impassive look.

“Stop it with th’damn bitin’!”

Biting Rin’s tongue had been an accident, really. It’s too much effort to try an explain this though, considering how good it feels that there’s a flush spreading all over Rin’s chest right now. Did that turn him on? 

Behind him, Makoto sighs. “I guess we’ve got to practice to make sure you get biting right…”

Finally, a logical thinker in the group.

***

Later that night, Makoto’s the first one to fall asleep; it’s a combination of good food, a good makeout session between the three, a good workout, and the warm kotatsu he’s sank half his body into. One of the cats snuggle against his chest, into the crook of his arm, and his glasses are askew against his nose.

Rin removes them gingerly, pressing a soft kiss against the side of his nose, and places them on the table. Haru, not to be outdone, (even when their usual judge is asleep), presses a kiss onto Makoto’s temple. 

He doesn’t expect Rin to be smiling at him, leaning in to press a quick kiss to his lips. 

Haru huffs, and looks away feeling exasperated, feeling too much. The cat sleeping with Makoto stretches, tail coiling, and rolls onto its back, paws pressing into Makoto’s face and causing the boy to twitch his nose uncomfortably. Rin snickers, and rubs at the exposed tummy of the cat.


End file.
